Just a couple of days after the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps, several users in India are not able to access popular privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo.

As per multiple user reports on Reddit and Twitter, DuckDuckGo has been blocked on India’s second-largest carrier Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, and a few other networks.

From the looks of it, it appears like the Indian government has banned the website. Reliance Jio users are getting the generic website ban error message that reads “Your requested URL has been blocked as per the directions received from Department of Telecommunications. Please contact administrator for more information”

Here is the screenshot. pic.twitter.com/SbTtadS94U

— kushaldas https://toots.dgplug.org/@kushal (@kushaldas) July 1, 2020

DuckDuckGo has acknowledged the situation and is investigating the situation right now. A potential fix is not available yet other than using a custom DNS or VPNs.

Hi Haide. Thanks for letting us know. We’re aware of the blocking and are looking into it.

— DuckDuckGo (@DuckDuckGo) July 1, 2020

Meanwhile, Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is urging netizens to report if the search engine is not accessible on their ISP. You can do so from the link in the tweet below.

Please RT. We are going to look at this reported block and then take it up actively. Please let us know if duck duck go is blocked for you on your ISP!! Fill in this form now! We promise to take action! https://t.co/0DOpF7VVsO https://t.co/A6tDGL1XeS

— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) July 1, 2020

We are not sure if this is a permanent ban for DuckDuckGo in the country or an aftereffect of a miscommunication between the Department of Telecommunications and ISPs. If the ban is permanent, it would be a significant violation of net neutrality. We will be updating once there’s more clarity in the situation and hence, stay tuned for updates.

So, is DuckDuckGo working in your ISP? Let us know in the comments.